Whew. It’s Friday, and thank goodness. I’ve been in Austin all week for Fincon, the annual gathering of money nerds. It’s fun — no doubt — but it’s also exhausting. I’m running on fumes!
As I have all week, yesterday I picked my friend’s brains to ask them about money articles they’ve liked recently. Today I’ll share their responses. To start, Jana Lynch says that our first piece is one of the best she’s ever read on the subject of financial abuse.
When money is the weapon: Understanding intimate partner financial abuse. [Bitches Get Riches] — “Abusive relationships aren’t an exclusive plague upon heterosexual relationships. Victims aren’t always women. Abusers aren’t always violent, and the damage often doesn’t leave a mark. And we’re going to talk about one of the most prevalent kinds of abuse today: financial abuse.”
“What I learned from living five years in a van.” [The Guardian] – “But our time in the van had taught us that we could do this deal differently. We could choose to leave behind the broken hamster wheel of debt and consumption; our too-high rent; the house we may never afford; the time we wouldn’t spend together; our estrangement from nature; the persistent loneliness – to forge a different dream, one with adventure, durable intimacy and a revised definition of what it means to be better-off.”
The biggest problem with early retirement. [Retire by 40] — “The biggest problem after early retirement is the lack of long-term goals…The transition to an unstructured lifestyle was abrupt. It can be difficult if you don’t prepare. Many retirees are unsatisfied with the leisurely lifestyle and actually become depressed. The lack of direction coupled with long empty hours wears many people down after a few years. This problem is magnified when you retire early.”
You can’t change your life until you change your life. [Becoming Minimalist] — “I don’t know exactly why you are desiring a change, or how big of a change you are looking for, but if you can be living a more intentional life, it would be a shame for you to miss it. If you are desiring a change, there is one truth that cannot be escaped: You can’t change your life until you change your life.”
And that’s it for this week. I apologize for not having a fun video to take you into the weekend, but I’m late for my next session here at the conference. I’ll make it up to you next time. I promise. 😉